India ranks 59th in 2019 IMD World Talent Ranking

India was ranked 59th among 63 countries in the 2019 IMD World Talent Ranking released by International Institute for Management Development.  This year, India slipped by 6 places as compared to 53rd rank in 2018 edition of this global annual list. India’s poor performance was on account of low quality of life and expenditure on education.

IMD World Talent Ranking

It is released annually by International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland based business school.  It assesses the status and the development of competencies necessary for enterprises and the economy to achieve long term value creation.

The ranking of countries is based on the performance in three main categories– investment & development, appeal and readiness. These 3 categories assess how countries perform in wide range of areas such as cost of living, quality of life, education, language skills, apprenticeships, workplace training, remuneration and tax rates.

Highlights of 2019 Rankings

Top 10 Countries: Switzerland (1st), Denmark (2nd), Sweden (3rd), Austria (4th), Luxembourg (5th), Norway (6th), Iceland (7th), Finland (8th), the Netherlands (9th) and Singapore (10th). These top countries share strong levels of investment in education and a high quality of life. Moreover, Europe leads way in fostering best conditions for competitiveness in a skills-scarce global economy.

Top Asian Countries: Singapore, along with Hong Kong SAR (15th position), followed by Taiwan (20th) lead in terms of talent competitiveness due to the readiness of talent pool. In this edition of list, Singapore rose from 13th to 10th position compared to last year, Hong Kong SAR from 18th to 15th, and Taiwan from 27th to 20th.

BRICS countries: India is also lagging behind fellow BRICS countries – China ranked 42nd, Russia (47th) and South Africa (50th).

India’s Performance: It also witnessed one of  harpest declines among Asian economies owing to low quality of life, negative impact of brain drain, and the low priority of its economy on attracting and retaining talents.

China: It was ranked in the lower half of the index. This year its rank slipped by 3 places due to low ranking on government expenditure per student, cost of living index and exposure to particle pollution.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2019